Bolivia By Night - potential xyzzy game of the year?

Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

maybe its just me, as it hasn't been getting glowing reviews, but to me
BBN has all the ingredients required to win the award next year,
especially if the author can release a post-comp bugfixed version of
the game.

*** spoilers ***

its a bit "hey look i went to bolivia on holiday and instead of boring
you with my photo album i'm gonna bore you with an IF game i made about
it" to begin with, but it manages to quickly shake off that feeling as
you head off on various reporting tasks for the "bolivian herald",
investigate a murder, and uncover a conspiracy...

the scenery feels right throughout, locations are never a chore to
plough through looking for nouns to "examine", the writing is plain,
simple and funny (the author is thankfully not a frustrated poet like
most IF-authors), the characters feel alive (especially the tv chef and
the chauvinistic colleague), the puzzles are just simple enough not to
get in the way of the story, and entertaining enough to compliment the
story, the whole thing is reasonably long, and the story could have
come straight out of the illuminatus trilogy (a good thing).

ok its v. silly, but what about "THE CABAL", a nominee for best story
this year? sure, THE CABAL didn't have talking che guevara t-shirts,
ninjas and the ghost of klaus barbie, but it comes from the same robert
anton wilson school of piling on the conspiracies and craziness until
you give in and just go with the flow hippy-style... its a style you
either "dig" or you don't, and if it was dug for "THE CABAL", why not
here?

the locations are fantastic. you can really taste the dusty, dry
atmosphere, the slow pace of life, the coffee and cocoa. every
south-american cliche is thrown in, from drug-lords to llamas to
witch-doctors to ancient incan secrets. best compliment: i'm seriously
considering travelling there now. so Best Setting is in the bag!

puzzle-quality is very high, often providing unique spins on standard
fetch-quest type puzzles, and incorporating what could have just been
storyline-asides into the main fabric of the game. "bring me the head
of alfredo garcia" is solved literally, "stop the van" is solved by
making use of what could have been just a throwaway gag, "fight the bad
guys" is solved via a callback to your early reporting missons, and as
for "defeat the cannon-wielding maniac": any puzzle that involves a sun
bed, a steamy dvd, and a portable camera could never be considered
derivative.

yes there are some technical flaws, in particular an annoying bug with
the framed photo in richard's room, and some awkward syntax
requirements at times, but these things can easily be fixed, the tricky
bit is the story, setting and puzzles, and there the author has
definitely "nailed it". i get the feeling the game might be lost in the
shuffle before the awards come round, so i'd like to take this
opportunity to put it up "for your consideration" right now.

rgs,
the author's mum
(just kidding)